Burner phones. Pay phones. Borrowed devices. Pentagon employees say they are using whatever means they can to contact reporters without being identified.
Pentagon staffers say they are putting their careers on the line to expose what they describe as growing turmoil and low morale inside the Department of Defense under Secretary Pete Hegseth.
‘People should know what a mess it is,’ one Army officer said. ‘Things have gone from bad to worse. It’s unbelievably chaotic and demoralizing.’
A civilian employee was even more direct, describing the effort to alert the public as ‘an urgent SOS.’
Six insiders, all of whom have spent at least six years working at the military’s headquarters, told the Daily Mail they are serving under a defense secretary they view as the least qualified and most volatile in US history. They described Hegseth, a former Fox & Friends host who renamed the agency the ‘Department of War,’ as running the Pentagon like a personal fiefdom.
All six sources requested anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from a Pentagon chief they accuse of targeting senior military leaders for dismissal, obstructing promotions and pursuing personal grudges. They also alleged he has waged a campaign against wokeness, promoted Christian nationalism and entertained a possible presidential run as the Iran war enters its seventh month.
According to the sources, the conflict has become even more unpopular within the Pentagon than it is with the wider public, where only 31% of Americans support it.
‘This isn’t a war we have any business continuing,’ one insider said bluntly.
Multiple concerned Pentagon staffers spoke to the Daily Mail to raise alarms about the turmoil and dissatisfaction they say have overtaken the Department of Defense under Secretary Pete Hegseth
The sources described Hegseth as the least qualified and most volatile defense secretary in American history
On Tuesday, Republican congressman Thomas Massie proposed impeaching Hegseth, saying the defense secretary had repeatedly violated the constitution through his handling of the war.
While Hegseth publicly touts total success, sources say he’s concealing many uncomfortable truths about the war: depleted weapons stockpiles, battered US military sites across the Middle East, Iran still choking the Strait of Hormuz, a knocked-out Saudi oil pipeline – and no clear endgame in sight.
‘The gulf between his spin and reality on the ground is insane,’ one staffer said.
Yet Hegseth has doubled down, sending 50,000 troops and 17-plus warships to the region through mid-2027 – all over the objections of the Navy’s top officer and the chiefs of the Southern, Pacific and European commands, who filed formal ‘non-concurs’ warning the military is running dangerously low on munitions.
‘The whole building is non-concur,’ one source said.
It’s not just paperwork protests.
The USS Abraham Lincoln became a floating symbol of the crisis – 8.5 months at sea, food shortages, plumbing failures, foul air, crumbling morale, and multiple thwarted suicide attempts before it finally limped into port in Thailand on September 2.
‘That’s not the only asset in distress,’ one insider warned. Other ships and Middle East bases and military sites, they said, are ‘similarly strained and under-supported.’
The apparent mockery of Hegseth also now extends to his wife Jennifer, the sources say. His spouse is said to have earned the nickname ‘Yoko’ – after Yoko Ono – for sitting in on high-level meetings and even a sensitive Signal chat about military operations, despite holding no formal Pentagon role
While Hegseth publicly touts total success in his role and a chumminess with troops, sources say he’s concealing many uncomfortable truths about the war – including depleted weapons stockpiles and battered US military sites across the Middle East
The saga involving the USS Abraham Lincoln has become a floating symbol of the crisis engulfing Hegseth, sources say. After 8.5 months at sea – which was plagued by reported food shortages, plumbing failures, crumbling morale and multiple thwarted suicide attempts – the ship finally limped into port in Thailand on September 2
It is for those service members affected that they decided to speak out.
‘My duty is to them,’ they told us. ‘There are lives on the line.’
This week CBS News published exclusive photos purportedly showing widespread damage to American sites from Iranian missile and drone attacks that haven’t been communicated to the American public.
Munitions shortages have become Hegseth’s most tender button. Insiders say President Donald Trump himself blew up at his Defense Secretary in August for keeping him in the dark on the depletion.
Since then, they claim, Hegseth has been more obsessed with hunting down the leaker who exposed the shortage than fixing it – even forcing dozens of Joint Chiefs staffers to undergo polygraph tests.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, in a prepared statement sent to the Daily Mail, asserted that ‘claims of US munition shortages are false,’ and are risking national security by making the armed forces look weak.
‘America’s military remains the most powerful fighting force on earth. We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing,’ he added. ‘Any adversary who confuses media noise with American weakness will discover the truth the hard way.’
Meanwhile, our sources told us Hegseth’s inner circle has gone further still, digging through staffers’ social media and conducting small interrogations to gauge their loyalty.
‘There’s a real sense of paranoia,’ one source said. ‘He’s created an environment where his siege mentality makes sense because personnel see him as a poser, an imposter.’
Money is bleeding out just as fast as morale. Hegseth told Congress the war has cost more than $37 billion, a full $12 billion above what the Pentagon originally reported to lawmakers.
The cost of the war for an average household is estimated at $1,650 and rising, factoring in tax dollars, interest rates and energy prices.
Meanwhile, the department wants $1.45 trillion for 2027 — a near 50% jump over this year’s spending — even as it lent RFK Jr. a military Gulfstream (at roughly $9,000 an hour to run) for midterm campaigning, and House Democrats accuse Hegseth of raiding National Institutes of Health funds earmarked for Ebola, malaria, HIV and flu research to help cover defense costs.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned after clashing with Hegseth over his purge of top officers, especially women and minorities Hegseth dismissed as ‘DEI hires’
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Gen. Randy George (left) and Gen. Christopher Donahue (right) are among the top brass who have left since Hegseth took the reins
‘We’re spending like you wouldn’t believe,’ one budget insider fumed, slamming Hegseth’s PR team for not being transparent about where the cuts are really landing.
‘It’s been one black eye after another,’ one sources said, and the body count of ousted brass backs it up:
- Army Secretary Dan Driscoll — resigned out after clashing with Hegseth over his purge of top officers, especially women and minorities Hegseth dismissed as ‘DEI hires’
- Gen. Christopher Donahue — Europe/Africa’s top commander stepped down after just 18 months
- Gen. Randy George — Army chief of staff was forced out after disciplining Apache crews who hovered over MAGA booster Kid Rock’s pool while he saluted for the camera
And that’s on top of the Joint Chiefs chairman, the Navy’s top officer, the Air Force vice chief of staff, and the judge advocates general (JAGs) of three branches who all after Hegseth took the reins.
Scores of civilian staffers got the axe too, leaving those who remain grinding through nights, weekends and holidays with no extra pay.
The military now has half the four-star generals it had before Hegseth arrived, and insiders say he’s quietly stripped names off promotion lists – a process normally left to non-political boards.
‘We’re hemorrhaging talent,’ one Army insider said, warning young top performers no longer see a future in uniform.
Parnell, in response, wrote that ‘military promotions are given to those who have earned them. This has always been the case under Secretary Hegseth and will not change.’
The purges have bred open mockery.
Hegseth has a trove of ink on his body, including one tattoo that features the Arabic word ‘kafir,’ which in the Quran means ‘disbeliever’ or ‘infidel’
Insiders who spoke to us fear Hegseth’s judgement in his role will be further clouded because he is rumored to be quietly eyeing a 2028 presidential run
Hegseth, who was once pulled off a National Guard mission after one of his tattoos was flagged as extremist, is reportedly called ‘No Tab Pete’ behind his back, a jab at his lack of elite combat insignia compared to the decorated leaders he’s fired.
Other nicknames making the rounds include ‘Whiskey Pete’ and ‘Colonel Vodka,’ both nods to reported drinking concerns, which he denies, and ‘Dumb McNamara,’ comparing his hardline Iran strategy to the man who dragged America deeper into Vietnam.
One female insider had a darker moniker for the defense secretary: ‘Pete the Predator’ – a reference to a 2017 rape allegation that cops investigated but Hegseth has denied. No criminal charges were ever filed, though Hegseth admitted to the Senate during his confirmation process that he paid his accuser a $50,000 settlement. He was confirmed by the thinnest possible margin, needing Vice President JD Vance to break a tie vote.
While Hegseth clamps down on what the public learns, insiders say he has zero filter on his own social media. Two weeks ago he was blasted internationally for mocking an overweight Canadian military cadet online — prompting Canada’s defense minister to call his post ‘below the dignity’ of his office. Fat-shaming is a regular occurrence in the Pentagon, our sources told us.
‘He’s a mean, cold-hearted bully who can’t help but show his stripes,’ one said.
Another insider, in PR, described Hegseth as impetuous, with a habit of ‘getting out over his skis’ with military messaging.
Sources say Hegseth, pictured on September 2, has been running his Department of War like a personal fiefdom
Our sources all declined to be named for fear of reprisal from a Pentagon chief they say is focused on firing senior military leaders, blocking promotions and carrying out personal vendettas
Case in point: his abrupt July announcement of a ‘testosterone fitness’ screening program, meant to boost troops’ ‘warrior ethos’ – quietly scrapped within weeks after medical experts warned of heart risks, infertility and other dangers.
It echoed his April reversal of the flu-vaccine mandate that had previously required all American troops to get their shots. The reversal was pulled back after a Lackland Air Force Base outbreak sickened 222 recruits and is suspected of killing one.
‘[He] rejects facts, expertise and competence [in favor of] how he wishes things could be,’ one insider said – pointing to the ongoing deadly boat strikes on alleged narco-traffickers, which have killed more than 220 people and which Hegseth justifies despite internal warnings that the strikes amount to war crimes.
‘He’s flat out delusional on that topic,’ the source said.
Parnell insisted, however, that ‘our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under US law.’
‘Lawyers up and down the chain of command have been thoroughly involved in reviewing these operations prior to execution, none questioning their legality and instead advising subordinate commanders and Secretary Hegseth that the proposed actions were permissible before they commenced.’
As if the current chaos weren’t enough, insiders fear Hegseth’s judgement will be further clouded because he is rumored to be quietly eyeing a 2028 presidential run.
‘Something about Pete makes the people around him either unwilling or too scared to say, “Dude, no sane person would ever vote for you. No chance in hell,”‘ one source said.
‘At least that’s what a lot of us need to believe — assuming anybody’s listening to what we’ve been saying.’
Most of the Pentagon insiders we interviewed acknowledged the discomfort of speaking out – not just because of the professional risks, but also an awareness that criticizing the secretary may be seen by the broader public as bellyaching at best or unpatriotic at worst.
‘I’m still at it because I love this country and the armed forces,’ said one, a third-generation military man who consulted his father, a decorated veteran, before agreeing to an interview. His dad encouraged him to come forward out of allegiance to the department, not ‘the political appointee who runs it.’
Another spoke of the sadness of feeling that she needs to speak out, hoping the public know that the military is ‘more than just Pete Hegseth.’
‘We cannot let him define us.’
